This is a rare event in Baumettes, which required, yesterday followingnoon, the intervention of regional intervention and security teams (Éris) within the penitentiary center.
Around 5 p.m., several dozen detainees from Men’s Quarter 1 (QH1), an area far from being the most sensitive, refused to return to their cells. They protested in particular once morest the jammers of mobile phones, but also once morest the cold in the cells or the menu of the canteen, considered not rich enough in meat.
The prison administration officers present had to equip themselves with their anti-riot protection equipment, while around fifty prisoners tore down the grid of a walkway.
Calm returned shortly before the kick-off of the OM-Monaco match, while the Eris agents remained deployed, once more today, to secure the site.
“It’s surprising, because at Baumettes, overall, things are well managed and the administration really listens to the prisoners.notes Cathy Forzi, of the prison FO union. But since the installation of the jammers, which are still being adjusted, even us can no longer work properly.”
Following this incident, eight detainees were placed in the disciplinary section and two others were transferred, while the walking time was reduced for all, in order to repair the damage in the second courtyard.
Beyond the current cold snap and the installation of these mobile phone jammers, nearly two years ago (also causing trouble for residents living near the prison), the president of the judicial court, Olivier Leurent, and the public prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens, were alarmed once more this week, on the occasion of the solemn hearing at the start of the school year, “from the return of the mattresses on the floor”due to an occupancy rate – mainly in the neighborhood of new arrivals – which can occasionally reach 175% in Les Baumettes.
